A young artist has used a load of lost property to recreate what film director Stephen Spielberg spent millions to make — invaders from Mars.

Jon Bunning, 24, of Helena Road, has been inspired by the forthcoming Tom Cruise-starring War of the Worlds film, based on the novel by HG Wells, to create a series of alien sculptures at the UCI cinema in Riverside.

The young artist, who is currently taking a sabbatical from Norwich School of Art and Design and working at the cinema, has made all his sculptures from lost umbrellas.

He said: "I'm a big fan of recycling and using found objects in my art work, so I was ecstatic to get my hands on the umbrella cache of the cinema. I was able to change expired lost property into something positive."

The umbrellas have been used to create the skeletons of the structures, around which Martians have been pieced together.

"After watching films like Minority Report and the Matrixes I guessed at how the aliens in the new movie would appear. I followed on with the red light theme shown in the trailer and have incorporated electronics into the pieces." Each alien can be activated to flash red lights and sound a siren differing in pitch and tone.

"I decided to call the installation 'We All Fall Down'. It echoes back to the last movie interpretation of the science-fiction novel — it's a cheeky pun linked to the fates of the aliens in the original movie.

"I wanted to remain as cryptic as possible to not spoil the conclusion of the movie. Hopefully it will cause a chuckle amongst those familiar with the previous tale."

While the sci-fi fan said he was restraining himself from "full on geekdom", he admitted believing in extraterrestrial life.

He said: "I was almost raised by Mulder and Scully. It's naive to think we are all by our selves pottering on alone in the vastness of space.

"I just hope they are the happy sausage fingered type rather than the brain munchers," he said.

We All Fall Down is currently on display at the UCI cinema on Riverside. War of the Worlds comes to the Norwich cinema on Friday, July 1.